The latest research from the NPD Group predicts that smartphones will account for 82 percent of the total, global phone market by 2017.

This represents a dramatic growth over the current 2013 market, where - according to NPD's figures - smartphones just secured an even 50 percent marketshare against the combined volume of basic and feature phones.

On the up and up

2013 also saw smartphones ship 250 million units in a single quarter for the first time, but NPD expects that figure to grow exponentially with a total of 1.8 billion units expected to ship in 2017.

In terms of form factor, however, NPD expects little to change.

A third of the forecasted 1.8 billion phones to ship in 2017 will feature a 5-inch display or greater, while the majority will feature screens between 4 and 4.9 inches.

What is changing about the market, however, is where the phones will be sold. The NPD Group expects that that 30 percent of the total 1.8 billion smartphones will be sold in China.

If the NPD's forecast is correct, then Chinese consumers will purchase roughly 600 million smartphones in a year or 1.64 million smartphones per day.